Prof Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), is right to describe the rising level of violence directed at NHS staff in England as an emergency. Freedom of information requests by the Guardian have uncovered a sharp increase in the number of reported attacks in hospitals, with an average of 285 each day in 2024-25. Some of the details shared with our reporters were horrifying. One A&E nurse said that she sees weapons brandished on a monthly basis, and described two incidents in which male patients deliberately ejaculated on nurses while waiting for treatment. A consultant – now retired – said that he had been violently assaulted twice within a period of weeks.
The increase in racist incidents is also gravely concerning. Because the UK’s health workforce is so diverse, and interacts constantly with the public, its members are highly exposed to rising anti-migrant sentiment. In November the health secretary, Wes Streeting, expressed shock at the impact on the NHS of resurgent “1970s-, 1980s-style racism”.
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